Precious Times
by DamascusDalek
Summary: (What happens when one rewatches Naruto on Netflix, but also has the tendency to create OCs based on whatever is being watched.) Ai Kōrichi may not have been born in Konoha but its where she was raised, and she’ll do her best to protect the place that houses her precious people.
1. Chapter 1:The Beginning

Ch.1 Team Assignments? The Avenger! The Icy Maiden! And The Unpredictable Ninja!

Ai Kōrichi had barely gotten any sleep last night, how could she? With her recent graduation to Genin and her looming team assignment Ai couldn't contain her worry.

"What if they hate me?" "What if I'm not good enough?" "What if…What if?"

A thousand scenarios flashed across her mind each gradually worse than the last. Shaking her head as if to physically throw the images from her mind, she stood on her bed and boldly shouted.

"No! I won't worry. I've got Papa and Mom on my side!"

Her gaze shot over to the shrine that she had built with tears still fresh in her eyes as a child. The faces of a smiling dark blue eyed woman and a blue-haired man were immortalized on it. Changing out the incense a sad smile came to her face.

"Mother, Father….look out for me okay?" Smiling, a wave of determination coursed through her. Tightening her father's hitai-ate around her waist she couldn't help but shout.

"Alright Konoha get ready. Cause Ai Kōrichi is officially a ninja!"

The walk through town to the academy was particularly uneventful, although Ai found some small amusement by Ino Yamanaka frantically rushing down the street while fixing her hair.

However, when she arrived in the classroom is where the real fun began.

It was surprising to see Uzumaki there considering he had failed the test earlier. How the heck did that happen?

It was sudden when Uzumaki got up into Uchiha's face though, all the other girls seemed so upset. Ai couldn't help but think it made them adorable.

She had almost let loose a mad cackle when Naruto was pushed into kissing Sasuke, priceless. What wasn't so priceless was the beating the other girls gave Naruto.

It wasn't his fault.

It was on that note that Iruka-sensei walked in.

Here it is, moment of truth, my ninja career starts with this team.

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto , Kōrichi Ai , and Uchiha Sasuke . You'll be meeting you're instructor in this classroom so stay here. "

Hmmm Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, hmm? Well I can think of worse combinations. I wonder who our sensei will be? I believe some information gathering is in order! Well I haven't been to the library in a few days, what better excuse than now? Or maybe the registration office? Decisions decisions. Although if I go to the library I can maybe weasel some croquettes, no wait fried shrimp, out of Shiki-nee, she needs to eat more anyway so to the library it is.

Unfortunately Ai was too lost in thought to notice everyone but Naruto, Sasuke and her were left in the classroom. Finally settling on a plan she got up and was headed for the door when it opened and an eraser fell on a head of silver hair. Ai couldn't help it, she laughed right along with Naruto. It didn't take too long for Ai to be the only one laughing with both Naruto and Sasuke giving her a look that clearly asked "What the hell?"

The silver haired jounin was the one to interrupt her mirth.

"My first impression of you? I dislike you. Meet me on the roof in 5."

With that command he disappeared and left to three standing there with dumbfounded looks mirrored across all their faces.

Shaking herself out of her shock, Ai sprinted toward the stairs leaving both boys behind. Again, the same thought crossed between them.

What the hell?

Following his orders to the letter, Ai arrived on the roof in exactly 5 minutes, with neither her teammates or sensei in sight. After 30 seconds Naruto and Sasuke arrived, the former panting, somehow out of breath, the latter only looking slightly annoyed at having to run.

"You're both late." A voice called from behind them, their sensei leisurely walking up the steps.

How did we miss him? Was the message that all their faces clearly conveyed. Which caused their sensei to close his only visible eye in amusement, or that's what Ai thought it was.

"You however," he said looking directly at Ai "were exactly on time.

Well done."

"Thank you...Sensei." Ai couldn't help but blush, doing a very good impression of Hinata at that moment, embarrassed by the praise.

The silver haired man turned to look at the group of young Genin.

"It would seem introductions are in order."

"My name is Hatake Kakashi and I shall be your Instructor from now on." He gestured at them. "Now it's your turn, tell me a little about yourselves. Likes, dislikes, dreams and all that." he pointed at Naruto "You go first."

"Um...okay...m-my name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, especially from Ichiraku's Ramen stand."

"And my dream is to become the strongest ninja in the village, and become Hokage, Believe it!" He said in a sudden rise of both confidence and his voice, causing Ai to jump a little.

"Al...right, well that is certainly an ambitious goal." Kakashi then pointed at Sasuke.

"What about you?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have few likes, I have many dislikes and my dream is not a dream but a certainty; I WILL kill a certain man and restore the Uchiha clan to its former glory." Sasuke's face was hauntingly calm as he said this, which gave Ai great reason to move a tiny bit away from the brooding youth. A chill made its way up her spine at the certainty and conviction in his voice.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but made no comment, simply pointed at Ai and said "Okay moving on, you're next."

"I'm Kōrichi Ai, I like croquettes, and all fried foods but mostly croquettes, Shiki-nee, books and cold days. My dislikes include hot weather and dry places. My dream is to become the next head of the Konoha Cambium Library and surpass Chishiki Hatchu."

She finished with a dramatic flourish of her hands. Naruto and Sasuke's faces both adopted a look of disbelief from the seemingly uncharacteristic actions of their teammate.

"Well you three are certainly an...interesting group of individuals." Kakashi said.

"I have more important things to attend to now but I'll leave you with your instructions for tomorrow's Genin exam"

"But Sensei" Naruto whined "didn't we already pass the Genin exam, why do we have to take it again?"

Kakashi's face crinkled into an amused expression.

"That was just the preliminary test, tomorrow is the real exam." His tone conveyed he was extremely amused by the situation.

"Tomorrow you shall gather at Training Ground 7 by sunrise, don't be late." He turned to walk away, then stopped. "And one more thing, don't eat breakfast tomorrow unless you want to throw it up" he pulled out an orange colored book and continued on his way. Before he disappeared for good he concluded with.

"Just so you know, 66.6% of students fail this test. Good luck."

Chishiki Hatchu was perhaps the only person in Konoha who Ai trusted completely. Being raised by her certainly helped in that regard. It also helped when she used her position as Head Librarian of Konoha Cambium Library to aid Ai in her research.

The problem was actually getting the good information from her.

"Ne ne Shiki-nee I need info on the Uzumaki and Uchiha so could you. PLEASE?" AI was doing her best to seem as small and adorable as possible.

"Hello to you too, Ai." Chishiki said, feigning hurt.

"And may i ask why you need it?"

"My teammates on Team 7 are Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, I wanna make sure I know everything about them before tomorrow's test."

"Ai, we've done this song and dance before, you know I can't just give you privacy invading information like that."

"However, I'll be participating in missions with life or death consequences with them, should I not have that type of information to better work as a cohesive unit?" Ai said, finally dropping the puppy dog eyes.

Chi thought for a moment, before relenting with a sigh "Fine, but you better not use what I give you to blackmail them or something like last time."

"One time! It was one time and that jerk completely deserved it. Do not deny it." Ai defended.

"Of course he did." Chishiki chuckled "now what specifically is it that you would like to know about them? Birthday? Address?"

"Well, family records, I want to see if I should need to prepare for any kekkei genkai, besides the sharingan."

After a brief period of searching, and coming up with nothing satisfying Chi sent a runner to the clan archive that was hidden in the Hokage Mountain for the files on the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans. Chi was disappointed, but not surprised, at the portion dedicated to living members. However, she was more pleased with the reports and family trees.

"Well it seems you have something in common, with all three of you being orphans. However, there is some info on the clans. The Uzumaki's being a clan that originated in Uzushio and were known for a proficiency in fūinjutsu. Konoha had very close ties, Uzumaki Mito-sama was married to our first Hokage Senju Hashirama-sama , with Uzushio to the point that the spiral you see on all our clothes comes from the Uzumaki spiral. Unfortunately Uzushio no longer exists as it was destroyed before the Second Great Ninja War. The Uchiha on the other hand, well you know about them, they help found Konoha after all. The most prominent being Madara Uchiha who was killed by our first Hokage."

Ai was impressed, she didn't know it was possible to talk that much in one breath, or the fact she was able to comprehend it, but leave it to Shiki-nee to surprise her.

Remembering a concern of her's from earlier Ai asked.

"Hey, this has been bugging me for a while today. How did Naruto pass? I thought he failed. Or at least that is what I concluded from seeing him without a hitai-ate on the day of the test."

"Oh that's way easier to explain. Iruka graduated him after a little incident in the woods." Chishiki told her of Naruto's theft, and then subsequent mastery of the Shadow Clone jutsu.

It was after a bit that Ai was reminded of her other reason for visiting her Shiki-nee, mainly her growling stomach.

"Hey, can we have fried shrimp today Nee-chan? I mean it's not everyday that your favorite imouto graduates from the academy right?" Ai said tilting her head to the side, bringing her cute strategy back full force. "Can we?"

Chishiki smiled, giving in instantly. "Of course, I'll even make double the usual amount, since it's such a special occasion."

Ai's face could have rivaled the sun as a shout of "Hooray!" Echoed through the village hidden in the leaves.

No matter how early Ai fell asleep the night before it still felt like she hadn't gotten any. Her body went into autopilot as she got ready for the day. Get up, bathe, brush teeth, eat the food Shiki-nee slaved, according to her, to make get dressed and finally bring herself back into the conscious world.

With all that done Ai readjusted her hitai-ate around her forehead today and made for training ground 7.

Now or never, she WOULD pass this trial.

Authors Note:

Joker:I'm still in shock we completed this, it was what 2 weeks?

DamascusDalek: 2 weeks 1 day

J: Thanks Netflix hopefully it gets the rest of Naruto

DD: at the rate we're going we'll have content til the Boruto sequel

J: what a Boruto's grandpa spin-off?

DD:more like Boruto's great grandson.

DD:so, shall we introduce ourselves?

J: Sure, I'm Joker: someone who has played almost an unhealthy amount of Persona 5, and I'm the main writer

DD:And I'm DamascusDalek, henceforth called Damascus or DD, and im the one who is just getting back into Naruto, and im the co-writer/editor

J: Add another D and you can be a penguin

DD:play nice

J: Kirby is fun, I've played super star ultra to the point I'm surprised I still don't have a 100% save file

DD:we all have our shames

J:Like restarting ultra moon for a shiny starter (I'll get it, one day)

DD: so we will both be hosting this on different sites, with me hosting on my FF account: DamascusDalek

J:and me on AO3, on my Account : TrickStar25

DD: well joker I think that about wraps it up for now, what say you?

J: Yep, thanks for reading all the way to the end

DD:and expect the next chapter in way less time. Maybe a week.

J:Hopefully less since we're done with the establishment chapter, depends on how finals study plays out

DD:and with my moving back home. May Arceus bless us.

DD:See ya next time in Ch2. First Test! Team 7's Trial by Fire!

J: Byeonara!


	2. Ch2 First Test! Team 7's Trial by Fire!

The first of the sun's rays had barely touched the horizon when Ai arrived at training ground 7, she had even stopped to get some manju from the sweets lady's first batch of the day. The pork inside was complimented so wonderfully by the sweetness of the bun itself that Ai wished she was able to get more than 6.

Pulling out a book on the founding of the village to await the arrival of her teammates Ai began her time mastered art of speedreading. The pages passed by as if blown by a fan and by the time Sasuke arrived just as the sun peeked over the horizon she was already a third of the way done.

"Morning Sasuke." Ai greeted, the last of her fourth bun disappearing into the abyss of her stomach.

"You're eating manju?" A look of disbelief made its home on his normally brooding face.

"Well even I'm not crazy enough to eat fried shrimp for breakfast. Especially after Shiki-nee gave me a verbal thrashing the week I ate nothing but fried foods for a week." Ai paused to swallow her delicious bun "Besides Oba-chan is always super thankful for the help I give her and these are her first batch of the day." Ai went to grab her fifth bun were it not for Sasuke's reply.

"Kakashi-sensei said not to eat today." This caused Ai to pause with the bun halfway between the bag and her mouth.

"Nope he actually suggested, not ordered, that we not eat today in case we throw up from the test." Ai held out the bun to Sasuke. "So with that, take it. It's better to have some food in your belly than none."

Turning away Sasuke crossed his arms. A clear sign he wouldn't take the kind and generous offering Ai was gracing him with.

Well two can play this game. Time for a little persuasion.

One low kick later and Sasuke was on a collision course with the cold morning dirt. A yell tried to escape from his mouth but was silenced by Ai jamming the bun into his mouth. Flailing like a madman, as Ai was sitting on him, Sasuke was forced to chew and swallow the bun. Content with her victory, Ai got off him with a cheery "You are very welcome!"

A nervous Sasuke trying to slowly inch away from the "Ice Maiden of the Leaf" and an Ai who was finishing her book was the sight a tired Naruto arrived to.

"Morning Naruto. Want a fresh manju?" Holding out the last of her stash. The bun was eaten instantaneously, with a thank you from the blonde.

As the sun got higher and higher in the sky, the air got warmer and more muggy. Ai was melting in the heat. Causing her to migrate toward the nearby river and drench herself in the refreshing cool water. While the heat was a major contributor, Ai, as well as her teammates, were starting to get irritated at their Sensei's lateness, when he had made it clear they were to be at the training grounds at sunrise. It was now past noon and he was nowhere in sight Ai was about to bring up the prospect of leaving when a familiar, indifferent voice called

"Hey there, you're on time today. Good job, you're already improving."

"You're late!" Ai boomed. Who was very much done with the temperature today, which did nothing to relieve her anger. Naruto joined in Ai's expression of irritation verbally while Sasuke gave a silent glare but the meaning was the same.

"Oh no, I'm perfectly on time, I said to be here by sunrise, and the Sun has certainly risen, has it not?" Before the three could attempt to harm their sensei he held up one hand.

"Since your all so energetic today I prepared a special test for you!" Kakashi said with the enthusiasm that only morning people could bother to muster as he reached for his weapons pouch.

Ai heard the faint tinkle of bells as Kakashi revealed two small ones suspended by right red string.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take one of these bells from me before lunch time." Kakashi explained as he set a timer and placed it next to a tree that was behind him. "The two who can will graduate and the one who doesn't go back to the academy until next year. Now when I say start I want you to come at me with the intent to kill. You won't get the bells any other way."

All three of the shinobi-in-training were stunned by this bold proclamation. _Is he really serious_? They all thought. However, the second Kakashi said "Start." Both Ai and Sasuke bolted for the nearest cover. Ai backtracking a bit to cover for the fact she was still dripping wet.

Naruto, however, made no move to hide, instead opting for the direct approach, and threw a punch straight at kakashi's head with his left hand, while his right reached for one of the bells.

 _Well that's clearly not going to work,_ Ai thought, and was proven right as Kakashi ducked under Narutos fist and caught the hand reaching for the bells.

"Ah ah ah, you'll have to try way harder than that, though I will give you points for attempting to face me head on." Kakashi said smugly. He then quickly slammed his knee into Naruto's stomach with all the force of lightning bolt, making the young Genin double over in pain. Kakashi then followed by simply placing his foot on the blondes head and kicked out, sending him flying across the clearing and into the treeline.

Ai nearly got whiplash from following Naruto's flying body. His attempted attack got her thinking as she hid.

 _As expected, direct attacks are not going to work, at least not by ourselves. We would need to overpower him or sneak up on sensei. Considering Naruto-kun's success at a frontal assault. Theoretically it should take a combined effort to take him down. However, if I know Sasuke-kun he is not going to work together easily. How to get him to cooperate will probably be the biggest hurdle._

A few seconds passed before an idea finally popped into Ai's head.

 _That just might work._

* * *

Ai found Sasuke hiding in one of the nearby trees. She was slightly surprised by how well hidden he was considering he was wearing blue and black while hiding amongst plants.

"Sasuke-kun. Hey Sasuke-kun." Ai stage whispered.

When Sasuke turned to face her Ai couldn't help but think of the expression "if looks could kill".

"What do you want?" He asked his eyes making a quick glance at her before settling back on Kakashi-sensei who seemed thoroughly invested in his book.

"We should team-up to take him on."

Ai suggested. This caused Sasuke to give her a look that said "you can't be serious". "Think about it Naruto-kun got trounced so easily. What do you think would happen if we were to try?" Sasuke gave Ai a look that said he would try to solo Kakashi anyway.

 _Well desperate times._

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you remember this morning…~" Ai said, with a devilish look on her face. "If we do not pass this test, I will force feed you 10,000 manju, and it will not be as nice as this morning."

All the color drained his face, but with clearly forced calm he said "On second thought, perhaps a two person assault would be better, what did you have in mind?"

"Well my plan has a vital component. Can you do the great fireball jutsu?"Ai looked at where Kakashi-Sensei was standing, his back to the tree with the timer next to it.

"Yes, I can, what do you need me to do?"

"First we should find Naruto" Ai quickly looked to make sure Kakashi wasn't near them. "This plan will require all of us."

* * *

"No way, I refuse to work with that bastard!" Naruto yelled before Sasuke hit him upside the head.

"Moron do you want him to find us!" Sasuke hissed out pointing to Kakashi who was still against the tree and seemed to have not moved at all.

"Naruto, you want to be hokage right? Then you NEED to pass this test, we all need to."

"Fine" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms to show he was not all pleased to do so.

"Okay, now listen carefully" Ai told them and she started whispering.

* * *

The sun was approaching the midpoint of the sky when Sasuke and Ai tumbled into the clearing fighting each other. Jumping apart they circled each other and had gazes so fierce it should have set the other on fire.

"Back off!" Sasuke yelled a growl underlying his words. "I don't need you!"

"You're cooperating and that's final" Ai bellowed back her thinning patience evident in her voice.

"Maybe you'll get the message with this." Sasuke raised his arms from his side and began to form four seals.

"I was hoping you'd do that." Ai smirked and began forming her own three hand seals.

Kakashi gave a cursory glance in interest.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Ai and Sasuke say at the same time

A cloud of steam billowed forth from where the two jutsu connected

" **Okay first Sasuke and I will pretend to fight and create a steam with our jutsu's to give us cover."**

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Suddenly three Narutos came flying through the air toward Kakashi from the cloud, Kunai held before them in a spear like formation.

" **Naruto, you will use the cover to jump at Kakashi-sensei, and then, when he tries to dodge you and your clones…"**

Kakashi easily sidestepped the three Narutos but was unprepared for the forth and real one behind him.

" **You come from his blind spot and rush him."**

Naruto caught the lead clone by the feet as it passed him and threw it at Kakashi, with Naruto prime quickly following.

" **Now both of you must keep him distracted and**

As Kakashi turned to see naruto and his clone coming at him, he failed to see sasuke sprint at him from behind. Sasuke jumped and aimed a spinning heel kick to the jonins back. Surprisingly, it hit him, sending their sensei careening into the nearby river.

 **most importantly away from the timer."**

Ai was meanwhile traversing the mist, sprinting for all she was worth toward the tree that the timer was in front of.

" **I will be gunning for it. If we have it, we control this test."**

"My my it seems my students were being sneaky, I certainly didn't expect that." Kakashi said as Ai reached for the timer, causing her to freeze.

" **We cannot afford to fail, there are no second chances."**

Everyone was frozen in place as their sensei appeared in front of the kunoichi. Ai heard a splash, and though she dared not look away, she was certain she'd see a log where Kakashi had been if she had.

"Let me guess, your plan was to steal the timer, so that i wouldnt know when the time was up, therefore giving you more time to figure out a better plan, is that correct?"

"So you found out. It doesn't change the fact it would have worked!" Ai said defensively.

"Oh there's no doubt in my mind that it was a good plan, brilliant even." kakashi said, the tiniest amount of pride in his voice. "However there is one thing you didn't plan for…"

Suddenly, Kakashi brought his arm out from behind him showing the timer. Looking straight at Ai, he crushed it with one hand.

"This timer was purely for your sake...I however, don't need this to tell how long it's been…"

* * *

Joker: Wow that sure was a long 2 weeks!

DamscusDalek: i think you spelt months wrong. Anyway...WE'RE ALIVE!

We have...reasons...for why it took so long.

Joker: Life happens, and while watching Naruto episodes I replayed Pokemon Platinum again and well...Ideas happen.

Damascus: in other words, we wrote other stuff in between our real life problems...it probably won't happen again

Joker: We did learn something though, don't set deadlines.

Damascus: especially ones you can't keep. Cuz then you end up disappointing readers and, in my case, yourself.

Joker: It happens, you just need to learn from it. The plan, now is to HOPEFULLY get the next one done in less time than this one...which shouldn't be hard

Damascus: fingers crossed. On the bright side, i believe this chapter is a magnitude longer than the last chapter to make up for the hiatus.

Joker: I believe it is? I think it's better than the first one...Its injecting some character at the very least.

Damascus: On that note we shall take our leave.

Joker: Join us next time for… Land of Waves! The Assassins of the Mist !

Damascus: coming to a fic site near you in at least the next century. See ya!

Joker: Goodbye!


End file.
